


New Jersey

by Aevyk



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Gen, Journey, Travel, Troll Jim Lake Jr., post-trollhunters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24685039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aevyk/pseuds/Aevyk
Summary: A brief story of what happened in the journey to New Jersey that had place during the season 2 of 3Below. Note: Even though I wrote it way before Wizards, it includes a major spoiler.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This story was written originally in my main language and then translated into English, so sorry about the mistakes. Hope you'll like it. :)

The night was heavy over the Arcadia Oaks forest. The last events had left the whole city in a state of confussion and the damage was as fresh in their memories as in their streets. Although, while the citizens had go to sleep, silently wishing that everything was just a bad dream, there were hundred of footsteps echoeing in the forest, slow and determined footsteps.  
At the front of the group, three armored figures, two tall ones and a smaller one; shining in silver and green, black and red and purple and pink, respectively. The first one was a wizard, old but strong, even after the battle. Merlin continued walking without hearing the whining and grunting of the hundreds of trolls that followed the three knights, trolls in every color, shape and size, that were leaving what had been their home for centuries. The one who was ahead of the group was looking at the back of the wizard with his six eyes and sometimes he looked over the Trollhunter, in a mix of pity and other feelings that trolls used to consider quite ordinary for being “too human”.  
Jim had walked upright and fast-paced for a while, until the pain in his flank had made him to bend over and the memories made his footsteps heavier. He wanted to now if, not that far away from there, even some miles behind them, his mother, Strickler, Claire’s parents, Toby, AAARRRGGHH!!! and the rest of their friends would still be there. His mind was a flutter of images for the second time in less of a week. He could remember clearly the battle with Gunmar and Morgana and then saying goodbye to his whole life, in more than one way. In front of him, there was a solitary existence, being the guardian between worlds that doesn’t belong to neither of them.  
The pain make him flinch and then he realized that he was holding Claire’s hand, so she was supporting part of his weight. She looked at him, the white streak in her hair glowing under the moonlight, and she gave him a sad smile. Jim then remembered how he used to be able to look her in the eyes, which was more difficult with his new height, and he started to felt even worse.

“Master Jim”, said Blinky’s voice from his left side. “You don’t appear to be feeling well.”

“Yeah, I bet that I look like I’ve just battled the worst Gumm”Gumm and the worst witch in one afternoon.”, he joked.

“Merlin!”, Blinky overtook them and stopped the wizard. “The Trollhunter is wounded. How much time shall we walk?”

“One hour more, to get to the mountains.”, answered Merlin,” I’m just asking for a little patience. You’ll be able to rest in no time.”

Blinky went back grimacing. He still couldn’t understand any of the wizard’s decissions, but that wasn’t the place or the time to make him talk. Also, he was a wizard, so he could punish him in a lot of ways. He dedicated his time in thinking about his brother, Dictatious, now living in the Domzalski’s house with AAARRRGGGHHH!!! He sighed when thinking about his best friend. They had been through so much stuff together and he was going to really miss him, although his mobile phone would be helpful in the distance.  
They could see the mountains, black over the night sky. Merlin brought them to a cave, where they were able to sit, rest and have some food. Blinky looked for Jim and Claire and found them a secluded spot.

“We need to check that wound.”, he said, forcing Jim to sit up.

“I’m okay, Blink.”, he wailed,”Just a little tired. And hungry.”, he added, seeing that Claire had just put out a sandwich from her backpack. She blushed and put it back again.

“Everything is correct”, said Blinky, astonished. ”It’s a deep incision, but it’s fully closed and healing correctly.”

“That’s perfect, because I can’t take the armor off to further check it.”, said Jim.

“Can’t you?”, asked Claire, sitting on a nearby rock. ”That doesn’t make sense.”

“I only know that when I tried to switch off the Amulet, it was stuck.”, answered Jim. “What’s wrong?”.

Blinky was frowning. He assure himself that Merlin was far away from them.

“I’m not pleased at all with this whole situation. That wizard is only telling us one percent of his thoughts and, until now, all his decisions have been blameworthy. Turning our first human Trollhunter into a hybrid, dismantling an invaluable birthday present...”

“You didn’t seem that annoyed back then.”, said Claire, raising an eyebrow.

“... and forcing us to go to the worst place possible.”

“What’s wrong with New Jersey?”, asked Jim, taking a glug cup from Bagdwella.

“You both have read A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore.”

“Sort of.”, answered Jim, while Claire nodded.

“You’re right, Blinky. Your boat arrived to New Jersey, it was the first place where you set foot in all of America. If there was a Heartstone back there, you would have noticed it, right? You wouldn’t had to cross the country to look for another one.”

Jim’s stomach jumped. He looked at Merlin, who was in the entrance of the cave, meditating or something.

“Exactly.” Blinky sat on the floor, next to them. ”As you say, there’s something fishy going on here.”

“Did somebody said fish?”, asked a voice.

“It’s just a figure of speech, Plagsnork!”, yelled Blinky.

They were distributing the provisions. Jim eyed Claire’s sandwich.

“What else do you have in there?”, he asked, intrigued, gesturing to the backpack. Blinky got up to get some food.

“A little bit of everything.”, she said.”Food, drinks, a water bottle, some clothes, a vanity kit... just the basic stuff. And the phone charger. I know that Blinky has been able to charge his phone using some rocks, but that doesn’t sound great for the battery.”

Jim was trying not to overthink and finding something to eat to have a good night of sleep. It meant a lot for him that Claire was disposed to travel with them, keeping in mind that they were still assimilating his new appearance. He could still hear what she had said to him on the roof of the institute. Claire was doing all that because she loved him. “Even blue and with horns.”, said Toby’s voice in his head. He then thought about his best friend, who will be one of the two Trollhunters now protecting Arcadia alone. He’ll be fine. He thought about his mum and Strickler too, and all the babies they’ll be taking care of. Everybody was going to be too busy or enjoying the summer holidays and they won’t think about him.

“At least we have plenty of provisions.”, said Blinky, startling him. He handed him what looked like a rusty old can.” That’s some good news.”

Jim watched at the can, wondering why it looked so tasty and how was he going to eat it. He decided to start by biting the lid.

“Merlin says you should be able to remove your amor.”, said Blinky. ”And I want to remind you that you’re talking with the only troll that, for reasons still unknown, spent a couple of days as a human. If you need to talk, about anything, I’m at your disposal.”

“Thank you”, said Jim, still worried, while he teared apart the rest of the can.

That night in the mountain, they were sepparated in groups. Claire had brought a sleeping bad and she found the perfect spot in the back of the cave, where she removed part of her armor to be more comfortable. After having some doubts, Jim went after her.  
While she was unrolling the sleeping back, Jim took his hand to his chest. The Amulet was looser now. He closed his eyes and pulled it off, even thought it came off as switfly as always. He noticed the amor disolving in blue light and he opened the eyes, gasping in surprise. His old clothes were in rags, the pants teared over the knees and just the top of his jacket. At least, his white t”shirt was unscathed, just a little streched out and dirty. Claire looked at him.

“Maybe I’ll just wear the armor for now.”, said Jim, placing the Amulet in its spot once again.

She nodded and got into the sleeping bag. Jim looked at the parched blanket he had been able to get.

“I should have packed better.”, he said. ”But I didn’t know what to bring here.”

Claire kept sitting and waited until Jim sit next to her and covered himself with the blanket to talk.

“This is so crazy.”, she said. ”I’m not saying that our lives weren’t crazy before, but...”

“Yeah.”, said Jim.

“How are you?”, inquired Claire.

“I don’t know.”

He looked at the trolls, some of them covered with blankets, sleeping or half asleep, sparkling like rocks in the moonlight.

“I don’t know if this is a dream or a nightmare. I’m feeling like I’m the Trollhunter. Just the Trollhunter. Is like Merlin doesn’t care about Jim. He wanted to turn me into this thing and stuck the armor on me. He doesn’t want me to be human.”

“But you’re still human.”, said Claire. ”Part of you is still the same. He said that.”

“I can’t walk under the sun. I can’t eat normal food. My dinner was a can. I have a lot of questions.”

“I think that if we’re going to trust him, sooner or later he’ll gave us answers. And for his own sake, they’ll better be good ones.”

Jim smiled. He saw that Merlin was sleeping peacefully and he realized how he wanted to wake him up by shaking him with a hand in his neck, threatening to drown him if he didn’t answer all of his questions and gave his life back. With a shiver, he realized that was the only thing he wanted to do the most. He wanted to be a regular teenager, enjoying the summer with his friends. The merry picture of him doing outdoor activities with Toby and Claire vanished quickly. No. He’ll never be the same again.


	2. Chapter 2

The first week came and go really fast. Merlin told them that he knew about a path that would take them to their destiny in over two months, way less that the old path, and always travelling under the earth. Blinky defended himself, saying that they walked over the earth by night just for learning about the native ways of life and doing the same trip just backwards would be nearly impossible because of the big cities that had been built since then.  
They kept the same line-up, walking in silence and resting every time they needed. They crossed their path with some River Trolls or Garden Trolls, who saluted the Trollhunter and asked them what kind of troll he was.

“A human troll.”, answered Jim the third time. The River Troll nodded, as he understood, and said no more.

The tunnels were really similar, the only changes were if they had roots or not, if they were damp or dry or if they had gnome nests.   
Every night, Jim phoned everybody, just as he promised. Toby called once in a while, mostly when he was bored. The parents were relegated to the nights. Jim was ready to call her mum the second night. When he heard her calling him by his name, he missed her more than ever.

“Jim, honey!”, she exclaimed, ”How are you? Is everything all right? How’s your wound?”

He noticed that she was really worried.

“Everything’s all right.”, he tried to reassure her. ”My wound is not that bad and it’s healing quickly. How is everything going there?”

“Well, let’s just say that the whole city is still shocked. Even though all the injured have gone home by now the streets are still a mess.   
However, if I didn’t have dozens of babies at home and AAARRRGGHH!!! and Walter didn’t go to the city for a stroll like it was nothing, not much has changed.”

Toby had told them that Dictatious didn’t want to leave the house and Nomura was going out a little less, but she was still working at the museum with no problems. Jim nodded, even though he knew that his mum couldn’t see him.

“We have managed to have some of them adopted, but I think we’ll have to keep four at least, counting Walt Junior. So, how about you? Is everything all right?”

“Yep. Merlin has brought us to a tunnel that goes directly to New Jersey.”, he heard a snort. ”What’s wrong?”.

“I don’t know. I don’t like that man. I’m glad you’re with Claire and Mr. Blinky.”

Jim decided not to tell her that all of them agreed with her. He only wanted to talk about trivial stuff.

“Mum,”, he said, after a while.” I... I’m sorry for my behaviour of the last days. I was angry and terrified and I shouldn’t have put you aside. I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Jim.”, she said. ”It was hard for everyone, but mostly for you. You know that, if I could, I would have whacked that wizard with my broom until he would have turned you like you were before. But this is your life now, and if there’s a secret reason for all this and you end up, I don’t know, saving the world or something like that... what I mean is that there has to be a reason.”

“I hope that’s true.”, said Jim.

His conversation with Toby was way more enjoyable. He phoned him two days later, just when they entered the intern tunnels.

“I can’t believe it.”, he said. ”The Arcadia folks must be quite open-minded, because the local trolls can go for a walk without problems and they’re just like any other neighbour.”

“What were you expecting, Tobes?”, Jim asked. He was talking in hands-free mode this time.

“You know, maybe they could treat us as the heroes we are. Hello? We’ve saved the whole city! Some people has been asking AAARRRGGHH!!! for a photo, but mostly kids. And Mary. She posted it with the hasthag “pro-trolls.””

“We’re gonna need to stamp that in a t-shirt.”, joked Claire.

“But it looks like this summer is going to be a real snooze.”, Toby complained. ”Even Eli is bored. He already had sent me 20 messages about some aliens sighting nonsense. Aliens! Can you believe that! I don’t think I should roll with him.”

“Bah, maybe it’s just another goblin, just like the last time.”, said Jim. ”Is nobody talking about us?”, he added, a little hopeful.

“You scared them, man. There are so many theories around. Some people say that you’ve always been a half troll and now you can control your transformation. Heh, can you imagine? Or they say that you were a troll infiltrated in high school. Or that you’re cursed. But they’re thankful, of course, they don’t care about the rest of the story.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Another message!”, Toby grunted. ”That’s it! If he wants to talk me about something, he should come to my house. Or at least call me.”

However, the call that affected he the most was Strickler’s. Mostly because he had selected the most bizarre ringtone for him and he had forgotten about that.

“Yes, I’ve been wanting to phone you for a while, Young Atlas.”, he said. ”But I obliged myself to hold a little.”

It was a week later and the only remarkable event was a gnome attack.

“I wanted to know how are you getting used to it.”

Jim could hear some babies gurgling and he realized that Strickler was calling him from his house. Trying not to think about his own bedroom packed with craddles, he answered.

“I’ve been able to switch off the Amulet, but that doesn’t help at all. It’s like a nightmare. I can’t get used to it. I can smell and hear everything in our path and sometimes I get really angry and I feel like my head is going to explode. I don’t think I’ll ever find a balance.”

“Meditation can help.”, answered Strickler, sympathetic. He didn’t want to tell him about the research that he was doing besides Nomura.   
”That’s why I read a lot. I consider reading a good distraction. But we both have someone we can talk to and be sincere, so I’m asking you to do that. It wasn’t that difficult for me; I can go out for dinner or for a stroll every time I want. I didn’t have to try my plan B, the Glamour Mask that was hidden in my office.”

Jim said nothing about the revelation. He knew that for Strickler it was hard to leave his human life behind too, but at least he was used to being a troll. 

“And we all think that there’s a lot of loose ends, so it could be a temporary situation.”

“Really?”, Jim hold the phone closer.

“Come on, Jim.”, continued Strickler. ”Half troll. Merlin really wants you to be part human. And all the Elixir stuff sounds quite rushed. Did he had the recipe? Is this the first time it worked or he didn’t even tried it before? That wizard is a walking enigma.”

“He doesn’t speak a lot.”, explained Jim.”He only gives us orders and does his own thing.”

“I really hope that some day we’ll know the truth. I know you’re suffering, Jim. Let’s hope there’s a good reason behind this.”

After that, he never called him again.


	3. Chapter 3

The weeks were getting heavier. The trolls were starting to feel tired and sad or even irritable without a Hearstone near them and Claire didn’t have much food left. Merlin helped her to find a passage to the surface, where she ditched the armor for casual clothes and went to buy provisions. Jim and the others waited for several hours until she came back.

“Where are we?”, asked Jim.

“Kansas.”, answered the wizard.” We’re right on schedule.”

Claire went back in mid-afternoon, exhausted but happy. Even thought it’d been hard at the beginning, she managed to get used to be the only human in that strange group. She had kept her ways, for example, she was still wearing nail polish.

“I’ve found lots of stuff.”, she explained, putting the bags over the ground. ”Thank goodness my parents gave me some money and I have some more saved.”

As they had to stay in the same place while Claire packed everything, they didn’t have to wait much for the turmoil. Blinky and Jim tried to listen to all the petitions and decided that one group would be able to go outside at night, another could sleep all day and so on until everyone was happy. When Jim went back to Claire, he found her quite cheerful.

“Are you going outside with the others?”, she asked.

He hadn’t thought about that. It sounded like the right thing to do; follow and protect them. Plus, he hadn’t seen the sky for weeks.

“It’s such a peaceful town.”, said Claire.” With lots of shops. I’ve found this.”

He was amazed when she put out some new clothes from one of the shopping bags. They were a couple of t-shirts and some pants.

“You know, I thought you may like to wear something else.”, she said, blushing.

Jim looked at the t-shirts and a sweater that was at the bottom of the bag. His heart started to jump, as if it was telling him to take a risk. 

“Thank you.”, he said.

“It’ll be fine if you go out now and then and clear our head. Not everything has to go around trolls.”

Jim looked at her. Claire hadn’t treated him in a different way in all those days and that had helped him a lot. However, he still was having dreams where he was human again and he was in a cage, at the mercy of his half-troll self. He wasn’t able to forget that he had turned in the same creature he fought with in the Void.

But that night was different. The trolls went out to feel the night summer breeze, that combed the trees swiftly, and strolled around the hills that surrounded the dim lights of the town.

Merlin stayed with the trolls that didn’t want to go out, while Jim got dressed with his new clothes. The fabric felt way nicer over his stone skin than the armor. He almost felt like himself again.

Claire hadn’t took a chance on buying some shoes, but she suceeded with a blue hooded sweater. It fitted him perfectly.  
She smiled when she saw him. She had been waiting outside. He was received by a gust of wind and the smell of trees and the dinners being cooked far away, in the town. The stars were shining in a velvety sky with no clouds.

“Stay close.”, said Jim to the trolls. ”And get inside to sleep.”

They nodded. Claire and he walked around the forest, without talking too much.

“The hoodie suits you.”, she said, after a while. 

“Thank you.”, he said, for the second time that day. He tugged the hood. ”This is perfect for a stroll through town.”, he joked, laughing.”But I prefer not to take risks.” 

“Why not?”, Claire asked. ”When we’ll go back to Arcadia, you won’t have to hide.” 

“Are we going back?”, he asked.

They stayed in silence.

“Eventually.”, answered her. ”Unless... you have to admit it doesn’t make any sense.”, she continued.”The Mayflower, the boat that the trolls used to travel to the New World, docked in New Jersey. Why crossing the country if they had a useful Hearstone back there? Blinky and I think that Merlin has another mission for you, but he doesn’t want to tell you about it yet, or maybe he won’t even tell you until the last possible moment. He wants you there and like this for a reason.”

Jim grunted. 

“You know what? I’ve felt used since the beginning of this story. At least, they explained me some stuff before. Now, I’m the puppet of a crazy man. He forced me, Claire. He brainwashed me saying that this was the only way to save everybody. And I became my biggest fear. “

She inmediately understood, while he realized what he had just said.

“You fought yourself in the Void.”, she said, under her breath. “We all wondered what happened there, we thought it was something so horrible you didn’t want to talk about it. And lots of stuff happened later so we just forgot about that.” 

“When I went down, I didn’t find me at first.”, explained Jim. ”I couldn’t see myself. “What are you?”, I asked. I still don’t know.” 

“The only explanation I can find is that your biggest fear was just being the Trollhunter, not having anything... of your real life... to distract yourself.” 

They looked at each other.

“Why would Merlin want you to face your biggest fear on a daily basis?”, inquired Claire. ”Why would he want you to not have any distractions?”

“You’ve said it yourself.”, answered him. ”There must be another mission coming.”

“It’s no wonder you feel used.”, sentenced Claire. ”But Blinky and I are here to help you. And Toby and your mum and Strickler too. You can count on us while Merlin won’t speak up and treat you as you deserve.”

“Thank you.”, said Jim, for the third time that day. Suddenly, he felt better.


	4. Chapter 4

Toby’s phone calls were getting more frequent and weirder. He told them about a meteor that they exploded just in time and that Aja and Krel, their new classmates, were actually aliens from a planet called Akiridion 5. Lastly, he sent them the short movie he had recorded for "Gun Robot 7". Jim had completely forgot about the movie.

“We were going to watch it together.”, he explained to Claire, while Blinky argued with AAARRRGGHH!!! in the phone.

“What’s the problem? We can ask Merlin to create another passage and go to the nearest city to watch it. By night.”

Jim wasn’t sure. He had gone out several times, he had even got a pair of sneakers after finding his new shoe size by accident, with a lost shoe, but he wasn’t ready for something like that.

“And we still have a couple of weeks left.”, continued Claire. ”We’re already in Ohio, so maybe we’ll be in New Jersey by then.”

“Ah.”, saind Blinky, hanging up the phone. ”AAARRRGGHH!!! says hello to all and apparently he’s now friend of this fellow Varvatos Vex, who likes spending time with Toby’s nana.”

“Yep, he told me about that.”, said Jim.

“Blinky, do you think Jim should go to the movies?”, asked Claire.

“Why, of course!”, he exclaimed instantly. ”Having hobbies is the most necessary distraction for the heavy mantle that is being the Trollhunter. Kanjigar enjoyed carving, Voltar was an extraordinary kitchener and some trolls say that Gorgus made ointments and he even sold a few.”

Jim frowned. He was already trying to keep a normal life so Merlin won’t suspect and he even had started studying troll cuisine.

“It’s not the same.”, he protested. ”The last two times we were out, nobody was able to see me.”

“What about the couple you walked across in Missouri?”, asked Blinky.

“It was raining and we bumped each other.”, answered Jim. ”This is different. Maybe it’ll be too hot to wear a hood outside.”

In that moment, Bagdwella appeared running towards them. They had moved away from the camp to make their phone calls, as they used to, but that wasn’t enough for the Trollhunter to stop answering every call.

“Gnomes pillaging RotGut’s depot!”, she yelled.

Jim suspired and took Daylight.

“More pest control. Great.”

Claire was going to follow him when Blinky stopped her.

“This is a piece of cake for our Trollhunter.”, he said cheerfully. ”See you at dinner.”

Jim rolled his eyes before following Bagdwella to one of the most protected places of the camp, where they put the trollish artefacts.

“You don’t want me to help him?”, asked Claire, lowering her voice.

“He’ll be perfectly fine. I wanted to talk with you.”

“If that involves my small chat with Merlin, don’t worry. He didn’t tell me anything more than what we already know.”  
Blinky smiled.

“How are you?”

She looked at him, puzzled.

“I’m fine.”, she said.

“We’ve been travelling for several weeks by now.”, sentenced Blinky. ”You’re living with more than two hundred trolls, making your way in your needs and with no more human contact that the telephone calls to your parents and your friends. This is quite a gallant action.”

“And you can understand why I’m doing this, right?”, Claire looked instinctively to the other side of the underground tunnel, where the rest of the camp was. ”I couldn’t leave him. And yes, it’s really hard. I’ve could never imagined that my summer holidays would be like this. And since I lost the Shadow Staff, I feel like something is missing. But this is my life right now. I’ll decide what to do when we get to New Jersey.”

She checked the time in her phone screen. It was the only way to know the moment of the day. She had a photo of Enrique as a background picture. It was the last photo that her parents had sent her. She sighed.

“Right now, I have to be here.”

“And we are grateful for that.”, said Blinky. He looked away too, like he was trying to find Merlin. ”I need to talk to Strickler. My research has been fruitless.”

Blinky had been taking any chance to take one of the books from his brother’s huge library to investigate during the journey. Strickler and he were doing research for other troll and human transformations to help Jim. Claire had known about all this a few days ago, because Strickler had asked the Creepslayerz to retrieve some parchments from his office and Eli had to told everyone about their achievement.

“I’ve been through the whole library.”, continued Blinky. ”And, aside of my own, I couldn’t find any example. Now, I even fancy the idea of visit Gatto to analyze the potions of his stomach. But, of course, that won’t be possible until we have an stable base and a gyre.”

“How’s Strickler doing?”

“He hadn’t find anything either, but mostly because he’s been working on the adoptions, so he doesn’t have much time to dedicate to it. But they can’t keep all those infants, and he’s been using his Glamour Mask for assuming a more soothing appearance after flying the baby to his new home.”

Claire imagined Strickler’s troll form, green and winged, flying in the middle of the night with a little baby in his arms. Then, her heart jumped.

“We still have a Glamour Mask.”, she said, with a gasp. ”And there was a gem that let the Trollhunter walk under the sunlight. Maybe, maybe... Maybe it’ll be too hard.”

“You’re right.”,Blinky, also lost in his thoughts, has crossed two of his four arms.”The Mask combined with the Solarium Stone would be a great solution. But I’m afraid that Master Jim is still quite agitaged because of the last events. We can just drop the information, but only if it becomes strictly necessary. He shouldn’t find about our eagerness to make him human again, even thought is more because of his own hapiness.”

Claire nodded while Blinky looked for Strickler in his phone contacts, with a skill achieved after using the phone for months.  
In the other side of the camp, Jim had been able to capture all the gnomes in a record time.

“Go tell your friends!”, he joked, while the last gnome ran away.

The depot was a huge mess. There were overturned boxes with Grit-shakas scattered through the floor and some other artefacts he didn’t know. He was ready to go when he thought that at least he could put a little order there, because he could place the boxes and their contents right were they belong in no time.  
While he was doing so, he couldn’t avoid thinking about all those mornings when he woke up early to clean and tidy up the house. He wondered about the current state of it, if his mother would still be keeping everything in place or if she had even bought the cleaning products he had to replenish. Maybe not. They were too busy with the babies.  
There was only one box left. When he reached it, he saw something that demanded his attention. It was the Glamour Mask. He hold it with both hands and looked at them, one with four fingers and no gauntlet and one armored with five fingers. He felt the irrepressible impulse of wearing it, to be human again, just for a few minutes. Would it work? Could he transform again into someone who didn’t exist anymore? Suddenly, he imagined himself going back to his real life, with the Mask on. Blinky had talked about a gem that let trolls walk in the sunlight. “I think I’m good.”, he had said. What a fool.  
He looked at the Mask again, at its wooden features. If that worked, he would be living a lie. Under that human facade, he’d still be an armored half troll. He wasn’t ready to lie like that, to lie and trick himself.  
With tears in his eyes, he left the Mask inside the box and he sitted on the floor, resting his arms over his knees. If he put the Mask on, there was no going back. He’ll open the door and he know that then he’ll go to fight Merlin and force him to change him back. He had been wanting to do that for a while, especially when the wizard dared to look him in the eyes.  
He stopped thinking about how his mum and his friends would react to seeing him with the Mask on. He saw his blue hand and throw it in a fist. That was his life now. He couldn’t do anything about it.


	5. Chapter 5

Jim couldn’t sleep that night. There was something strange in that tunnel, so close to their destination. He grunted, dozing, when he woke up with a scream.  
Much for his surprise, he was back in his bedroom. The sunlight filtered through the window and, instinctively, he covered himself with the blanket. Right away, he noticed a smaller pair of legs and a rosy hand. Surprised, he put the blanket away. The sunlight didn’t affect him. He raised his hands to his head. What happened?  
Frightened and happy, he ran to the bathroom. The image from the mirror was so similar to the last one he had seen, just happy. He smiled.  
After dressing up, he went downstairs to have some breakfast. Strickler, in his troll form, was reading the newspaper while a dark haired baby was busy with his feeding bottle.

“Good morning, Jim.”, said Strickler.

“Hey.”

He went to the kitchen, when he reunited with his beloved pans and prepared a full breakfast. Strickler had just finished his scrap metal toast and left the plate inside the dishwasher.

“Your mum will be at the hospital all day.”, he explained. ”They have to sent the injured home.”

“Ok, that’s fine.”, said Jim.

“How... are you feeling?”

Jim could sense he was worried. Did he know something?

“Merlin was right, you’ve woken up and you’re the same you used to be.”, continued Strickler. ”I suppose everything is all right.”  
Jim let out a nervous laugh.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Strickler smiled at him and went back to the living room. Jim had his breakfast quietly and, when he went to clean his plate, he saw the remains of the half-eaten blender in the garbage bin. With a sigh, he took the garbage out, going through the garage to take a shortcut. Surprisingly, his Vespa was waiting for him, completely intact. He dropped the bag, alarmed, and got closer to touch the motorbike.  
With a wide smile, he left the house, letting the sunlight bath him. He put the bag in the bin and crossed the street towards Domzalski’s.  
Nana opened the door, greeting him with her singsong voice.

“Good morning, Jim! Come in, I’m going to call Toby.”

“Thank you”, said Jim.

Right after going into the house, he saw Dictatious, nearby the kitchen TV and holding a steaming cup of tea.

“Toby-pie!”, called Nana.”Jim is heeereee!”

They could hear some thumping and Toby went downstairs almost running.

“Oh, great, you’re back! I knew that if we all threatened him...!”

“Toby!”, nagged Nana. ”What I’ve told your about running in the stairs?”

“Sorry, Nana.” ,Toby went down the last steps slowly. ”I can’t believe he kept his word, we all thought he was lying, that even thought it was something permanent he could just undo it. Get ready for the most amazing summer in history!”

“Everything’s all right, then?”, asked Jim. ”Trollmarket? Arcadia?”

“With a few touch-ups here and there, but perfectly fine. If you want, we can call Claire and go to Main Street.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

Soon, they were in front of Claire’s victorian house. She ran to hug him.

“Jim!”, she exclaimed. ”I knew Merlin was a wizard of his word! Are you okay?”

“Completely fine.”, answered Jim, feeling happier than ever.

The Main Street was in full construction. Toby moaned about Stuart not being able to park “El Güerito”, because he really wanted to celebrate it with some burritos. They found some classmates, who said hello cheerfully.

“We’re all going to Aja and Karl’s house.”, said Mary. ”They have the coolest pool ever. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you come with us.”

“Excuse me?”, said Toby. ”We are the greatest heroes of Arcadia, of course they wouldn’t mind.”

“Whatever. Where’s your big friend? I want to post a selfie with him, hashtag “pro-troll””, she laughed. ”Looks like this summer is not going to be a complete snooze.”

“Are you okay, Jim?”, asked Claire.

“What?”

He was distracted looking at the construction works. He couldn’t understand how some buildings had survived at all.

“Can we go to Trollmarket?”, he asked.

“Blinky said that the rebuilding was going to take a few weeks.”, explained Claire. ”And the Hearstone would need some days to heal itself. Merlin couldn’t soak up all the darkness, remember?”

“Yep. But I really need to go.”

Unfortunately, when they got to the bridge, they saw a big crane and lots of workers.

“We can’t go down there.”, said Jim, taking his phone.

“Allo?” ,said Blinky’s voice through the line.

“Hey, Blinky, it’s everything okay?”

“Splendidly, Master Jim. The works are going swiftly and Merlin has almost healed our dear Heartstone. What about you? Are you back to normal?”

“Yes, yes, I’m human again.”

“Ah, what an experience, am I right? Just like when I had the chance to enjoy several days in human form. But everything has to go back to the status quo.”

“Of couse, just imagine that I’m stucked being half troll. Or that we have to leave Arcadia to find another Heartsone.”, answered Jim, without kidding but trying to make it sound that way.

“Great Gronka Morka! That would be quite the mayhem. Nobody deserves to be obliged to leave his life behind, Master Jim.”

“Luckily, everything is all right.”, ended Jim.

“Exactly. Everything is all right.”

He hanged the phone.

“Were you talking about a pool?”

They spent the rest of the day with his classmates, at Aja and Krel’s house. The two brothers were busy, but let them being in their pool. They met Mary, Darci and Steve there, and all congratulated them.

“But you ruined the Battle of the Bands.”, explained Darci, with a sad look. ”You could have waited an hour or so.”

“Tell that to Gunmar.”, said Toby. ”Besides, I’ve heard they’re going to do it again.”

“Yep, Douxie says that too.”

“Who?”, asked Jim.

“The cool guy handing flyers.”, answered Mary.

Jim was going to answer back when he spied something moving out of the corner of his eye. It was dawn and they had decided not to take another bath.

“Everything, okay, Jimbo?”, asked Toby’s voice.

“Yeah, it must have been a racoon.”

After saying goodbye to his classmates, everyone went their own way. Claire said that her parents were waiting for her to go out for dinner and she left with Mary and Darci, while Toby and Jim went the opposite way.

“We really deserve some holidays.” ,said Toby. ”But we’ll have to go to summer school some day.”

“They can’t just forgive us that month and a half of missing school.”, said Jim. ”But I’d prefer doint more public services. I’ll talk to Señor Uhl.”

“Bah, there’s plenty of time for that.”, said Toby. ”Good night!”

“Sleep well.”, Jim opened the door and hummed happily while he switched on the lights.

“Did you had a good time?”, someone asked.

Jim was stunned. He knew that voice.  
The tall figure he had seen for the first time in the Void appeared from the kitchen shadows. Brawny, with the black armor with red shining lines and horns crowning his head, his half troll self greeted him in his own house.

“What are you doing here?”, blurted out Jim. ”You’re not real. I’m not you anymore.”

“Oh, so I’m not the real one now.”, said Troll Jim.

“No, you aren’t. I defeated you. Yes, Merlin’s Elixir transformed me into you, but you don’t exist now.”

“Because you’re a coward.”

“Because it was a bad idea.”, Jim switch on the Amulet while he was talking and the armor covered his body. ”Who knows, maybe I wouldn’t be able to defeat Gunmar without being you, but this didn’t have to end like that.”

“Didn’t you enjoy it?”, said Troll Jim. ”You were stronger, faster, nimbler. Don’t say you won’t have been unstoppable.”

“At what expense? Loosing my family, my friends, my life?”

“By saving them!”

Jim put Daylight in his back. He didn’t want to fight.

“What if this hadn’t happened?”, asked Troll Jim. ”What if the Hearstone had been damaged and you had to find another one? Would you ever like to return back to “normal”?”

“This is just a dream.”, noticed Jim, with tears in his eyes. ”Or a spell of the Amulet. How couldn’t I see it?”

“Answer me.”, insisted Troll Jim.

“It hadn’t been a dangerous journey. We’ve been underground hundreds of times without any problem. Tell me the truth.”, he took Daylight and pointed Troll Jim with it, who laughed. ”There’s something else. Something that Merlin don’t want to tell us.”

“There’s a lot more.”, answered Troll Jim. ”Something that you can’t even imagine. Maybe it’ll be better to wait, for now.”

“I don’t want to be a monster.”, said Jim, tears running through his face. ”I only want to have a normal life. Or what’s normal for a Trollhunter. I want to go out with my friends and cook and eat whatever I want and be outside, day or night. I want to know what I am. And to be who I choose to be. Nobody has ever let me choose. I’m in this situation because an Amulet chose me and didn’t let me go. This can’t be my destiny.”

“Nobody says that it’ll be.”

Jim looked at him. They were his same eyes, under that stone skin. Just for a moment, Troll Jim looked almost human.

“But you can’t surrender now. The time of the answers is near.”

The walls were blurring. Jim knew he was going to wake up. 

“I don’t want to go back.”, he pleaded.

“The time of the answers is near”

Everything turned black.


	6. Chapter 6

Jim didn’t tell anybody about his dream. That day, Merlin looked even wearier than usual.

“The end of the journey is the most dangerous part.”, he said. ”My magic has been moving away all the problems during the journey, but there’s something it can’t fight. It’s in the sewers, in a parallel path of ours, which we have to cross sooner or later.”

“Is it a Gumm-Gumm?”, asked Jim. The wizard said nothing.

“We’re on it.”, said Claire. ”Not Trollhunter, Trollhunters.”, she reminded him.

Jim had to accept Merlin’s silence. If it was true that the time of the answers was coming, he needed to be ready.  
Claire examined a wagon full of weapons. None seemed of her liking.

“I don’t feel comfortable wielding a sword. Maybe a spear?”

The troll that guarded the weapons looked for the spears.

“He won’t even tell us what are we going to fight.”, muttered Jim.”And what’s worse, if we were near a Hearstone, we should be able to sense it.”

“I bet it’s still too far.”, said Claire, taking a spear with two sharp edges that looked like frozen flames. ”This would do it. I need a new weapon. Since we had to destroy the Shadow Staff, I haven’t been able to fight with anything else.”

“Do you miss it?”, asked Jim.

“Too much, considering it was a weapon that tried to get inside my brain and make me more vulnerable for Morgana. You and Toby don’t have weapons attached to your feelings. Maybe this is for the best. But I really liked to make portals. It was a time-saver.”

She felt the weight of the spear with one hand and spinned it, pretending to attack. It wasn’t as impressive as her Shadow Staff, but it would work fine.  
The cave opened to the Hoboken sewers with a secret passage. Everything was newer than back in Arcadia.

“Merlin has said we shouldn’t try to find him, he’ll find us.”

“That doesn’t help at all.”, said Claire.

They had spent a few minutes walking when Jim stopped.

“Have you heard that?”

Claire stopped walking too.

“No. Do you think...?”

Suddenly, a shadow passed slowly in front of them. They hold their weapons tightly. A knight stood in front of them. His armor looked like Jim’s, without shiny lines and more symmetrical. Two yellow eyes shone in his covered face and he wore some sort of crown.

“Who are you?”, asked Jim, knowing that he won’t get any answer.

The knight attacked. He was extremely fast. Jim wasn’t ready at all and Claire even less and both of them clashed with the walls of the sewer.

“We don’t want to hurt you.”, said Jim. ”I’m the Trollhunter and we come from Arcadia with hundreds of trolls that need a Hearstone. We only want to pass.”

The knight kept being silent. When they got up, he attacked again. Claire was faster. One of the spear blades clashed with the knight’s sword. He counterattacked with a swift movement that she almost wasn’t able to dodge. Jim was ready to get into battle again when the knight kicked Claire, making her falling a few feet away.

“Claire!”, yelled Jim, running towards her.

“He’s gone!” ,exclaimed Claire, under her breath, when he get to her.”I’m sorry, I’m a little rusty. Maybe this armor is rusty too.”

“We both are rusty.”, said Jim, trying to comfort her. ”Don’t worry, at least now we know what we’re dealing with.”

They went back to the camp, crestfallen. Claire’s ribs hurted where she had been kicked.

“So?”, asked Merlin.

“Claire is wounded. If you had said us how fast and strong he is...”

“That would have been useless.”, answered Merlin. ”Sometimes, to truly get to know an enemy, you need to start from scratch. You must come back and fulfill your mission or we’re stuck in here without being able to continue.”

“I can’t go alone.”, said Jim. ”If I try to talk to him, he just attacks by surprise.”

“I’ll go.”, said Blinky, surprising everybody.

“Oh, no.”, muttered Jim.”Do we really need to end this today? If Claire could get a rest...”

“Today.”, sentenced the wizard. ”I don’t have much strenght more to restrain the Gruesomes, goblins and other not so welcomed friends of this tunnels.”

Jim sighed.

“All right. Come on, Blink.”

While he was going through the tunnels again, he caught up with Blinky. 

“He’s a knight with a crown, really strong and really fast.”

“He sounds like a king!”, said Blinky, gasping.

“And his armor looks like mine, if that helps.”, continued Jim. ”What’s it?”

“Not many kings mingled with Merlin.”

There was silence, except for a freaky trickle far away.

“Do you think he’s... King Arthur?”, Jim put his hands in his head. ”This is madness.”

“I’m just supposing.”, said Blinky. ”One could say that’s how my mind works.”

“Blinky!”, groaned Jim. ”One thing is a conspiracy and other thinking that’s King Arthur! I’m not a sword expert, but I bet Excalibur can kick Daylight’s butt.”  
He sighed.

“You’re right, Master Jim, this is madness. But I’ll say that this is our madness.”

“I just want Merlin to speak up.”, Jim sighed. ”I would rather be in Arcadia, with Toby and the Creepslayerz and their alien problems. I feel like my destiny is to just keep travelling, as if I don’t belong anywhere.”

Blinky’s eyes shine. When he talked, his voice was softer than ever.

“You know what I think about destiny, Master Jim.”

He couldn’t help but smile. He still could remember Blinky’s words, back in that spring night, when he wasn’t the Trollhunter or at least hadn’t accepted that.

“Destiny is a gift.”, he recited .”Some go their entire lifes living an existence of quiet desperation, never learning the truth. That what feels like a burden pushing down our shoulders is actually the sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heighs.”

“You remember it.”

“Couldn’t forget it. And by no means these days. Now it has a completely different meaning.”, without noticing, he put a hand on his horns. ”Do you think the time of the answers is near?”

Blinky thought about it.

“I really think that there’s a lot of secrets hidden from us and, sooner or later, we’ll know the truth. If you want to talk with that knight, be my guest.”

“We’ll try to reason with him.”, said Jim.

Blinky nodded. With a last sigh, Jim went back into the sewers. The knight was already waiting for him.


End file.
